Forget Me Not
by melness0128
Summary: Alexa is walking home alone at night when she attacked by two men. In her efforts to escape she stumbles across the ancient ruins of a temple and runs into Goddess Nia. Those guys won't know what hit them.
**Warnings: This fic has non con/rape elements but no rape actually occurs.**

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By the time Alexa had finished closing up the Black Chimera, the tavern where she works, it is already full dark, nothing but the light of the moon and a few scattered torches here and there along the riverbank of which the township of Higrove is situated on. Most people, women especially, might be afraid of walking home alone at night but Alexa had lived in Lucila and worked in Higrove for her entire life and everyone in the twin cities town knew her, if not as the barmaid of the Black Chimera then as Baron Corbin's sister and it was common knowledge that if you messed with her you messed with Baron and no one wanted a piece of that so she felt perfectly safe on her nightly walks home. Maybe it was this sense of security and complacency that led to the series of events that would completely shatter what she believed to be within the realm of possibility and what she believed to be fantasy.

The second half of her walk home requires her to take a wagon path through the Willowdale Forest to Higrove's sister town Lucila which is where the family cottage is actually located. It's darker here with no torch light from the town and only the faintest bit of moonlight filtering through the trees to illuminate the path. She's only rounded the first bend in the road when she hears it: the shuffling of feet and raucous drunken laughter of men behind her, after years of work at the tavern she'd know the sound of it anywhere. At first she thinks nothing of it, just some other people using the path to get somewhere, nothing to fret over but as she continues along the road their laughter seems to get louder and their footsteps closer and for the first time ever she feels fear start to tickle along the back of her neck and before she realizes it she's picked up her pace sprinting along the path, sparing a glance behind her every few seconds to check the progress of the men. When she stops, panting and out breath, heart pounding in her chest she notices that the path has fallen silent behind her, no more footsteps or laughter or voices, just the sound of her pulse hammering in her ears and the chirp of harmless crickets. Too scared to move Alexa stands there, feet glued to the road, straining her ears for even the slightest sign of another human being but she hears nothing. She stands there for so long she starts to think that maybe she imagined the whole thing and a manic laugh escapes her, echoing in the almost silent woods and she claps her hand over her mouth in an effort to contain the sound. When nothing catastrophic immediately happens she finally lets herself relax a bit and again continues along the path on her way home like nothing had happened.

She'd not gone more than 100 steps when she sees it, the silhouette of a large man just ahead of her on the road and when he starts walking in her direction instead of continuing forward along the path her earlier apprehension returns tenfold. As he gains on her she takes a few stilted steps backwards before turning to run and slamming headlong into the barrel chest of another man and she would have fallen to the ground but the man's thick arms came around her holding her tight to his chest. He stank of ale and sour sweat and it took everything she had not to vomit from the stench of him. She could hear the other man approaching from behind and heart tripping in her breast she began to struggle against the smelly man's hold but he just laughed at her vain attempt and turned her forcefully round, wrenching her arms behind her back at an almost impossible angle and she cried out in pain.

"Where do you think you're going?" the second man is right in front of her now his boots toe to toe with her sandals. She refuses to respond to his question, refuses to even look at him as her mind rushes to find an escape route.

"I said, where do you think you're going?" and he says it slowly, emphasizing each repeated word and then he grabs her by the chin forcing her head up so that she has to look at him and she sees him clearly for the first time. He's tall, taller than her but that's not hard with her small stature, and he's built solidly, muscles straining beneath his tunic. He has light hair and light eyes and an angular face that she might find handsome any other time but not now, definitely not now. Right now she can see something in his eyes, a hard iciness to his stare that chills her to the bone and she knows that if doesn't find a way to escape these men, she won't live to see another sunrise. She renews her struggles against the hands that bind her but the portly man just pushes her arms up further behind her back and tears spring to her eyes as she bites back another cry of pain. The blonde man tightens his grip on her chin, fingers digging into her skin cruelly as he clicks his tongue at her chidingly.

"Look at you, pretty as a pixie. Small and delicate like one too, but with some fire. I like that." He jerks her head to the side, brings his nose to her neck and inhales deeply as he slides the tip up along the line of her neck until he can whisper his next words into her ear. "I'll enjoy watching it go out." He pulls back, his face still inches from hers as if they were about to share a kiss and if these men think she's going to just let them have their way with her they're poorly mistaken. Alexa may be small but she is fierce. She looks directly into his eyes sparks shining in her own as finally breaks her silence.

"I'm not delicate."

She slams her head forward as hard as she can, cracking him in the face and she can feel the blood bursting from his nose and landing hot like a brand on her face but she doesn't stop. She stomps on the fat one's foot and then slams her head back managing to catch him on the chin with the top of her head and with a howl he releases his hold on her arms. The instant she's free she takes off at a dead run into the trees. There's leaves and brush crunching beneath her feet, thorns and brambles ripping at her skirts and the skin under them, branches tearing at her hair and her face. She trips and stumbles over roots and logs more times than she can count but she keeps running. Keeps running until her chest is heaving with her labored breaths and her lungs ache, runs until her legs burn and her slippers are nothing but shreds of material and her feet are bleeding. She looks behind her trying to catch sight of her pursuers but she doesn't see anything, including the sudden decline of the forest floor and then she's tumbling head over heels down the hill until she finally rolls to a stop in a small clearing.

At the center of the clearing is a two-rowed triangular arrangement of stones that stands about 8 feet high at the tallest. Gaining her feet, she limps her way over to the ruins in the hopes of hiding amongst the stones. The closer she gets to the ruins the more she gets a sense that maybe she shouldn't be here, that this is a holy place, but she can't risk the men finding her and so she pushes on, past the first row of stones and as she passes the second row she notices a fine mist has coated the grass seeming to get thicker as she gets closer to the center of the triangle, as if emanating from its center. At the center is another stone about waist high and carved with holy symbols that she barely recognizes from her minimal schooling but it's enough for her to know what this place is. Centuries ago the people of Higrove and Lucila had built this place as a temple to Sictune the Goddess of Justice. She was said to be the protector of the two townships because she had once fallen in love with a Higrove girl and they spent many happy years together here in the Willowdale Forest. When the girl died Sictune swore to honor her love by protecting her beloveds homestead from then until eternity. As far as Alexa knew no one had been out here for at least 100 years, so long now that it was referred to as The Extinct Temple of Sictune and relegated to children's stories and only barely even acknowledged as something that had actually happened.

Alexa looked around her again, this time in awe, marveling at how long it must have taken the people to build this place, how much hard work and dedication must have gone into it. A monument to the people's devotion to Sictune. This may have been a forgotten place but it was still a scared, holy place and now she knew for sure that she should definitely not be there. She slowly backs away from the center stone, almost afraid to turn her back on it now that she's seen it and knows what it is, before turning around to make her way back through the forest but what she sees when she does has her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach.

Standing there between the first and second row of stones is the blonde man, eyes crazed, blood coating the bottom half of his face from where she'd struck him earlier and dripping down to soak the front of his tunic, looking everything like a devil if she'd ever seen one. He licks his bloody lips as he starts to advance towards her and she's in shock and she's sore and tired but she knows that she has to run; knows that she can't just let him take her. It takes a few seconds to get her body to respond but then she's sprinting away as fast as her abused body will allow but she'd completely forgotten about the second man until he explodes out from behind one of the stones and tackles her back onto the center stone. The edge of it cuts into the small of her back and she falls backwards onto the stone, hitting her head on one of the sharpened corners. Her vision swims, a swirl of moons and stones, her ears are ringing and a deep stabbing pain has taken root in her skull but she still tries to push herself up, tries to gain her feet so she can flee but the fat man is on her again, grabbing both of her arms and pinning them to the rough stone. As her vision clears she can see the blonde man hovering over her, once again licking his bloody lips and exposing his red streaked teeth in a sickening grin.

"I'm so happy we found you, little pixie, this is going to be so much fun!"

Alexa can feel his hands ripping at her skirts and she starts to kick her legs, struggling against the hold on her arms as she tries to wriggle free of their grasp. The blonde man squeezes his knee between Alexa's legs forcing them apart until their pelvises are pressed together and he grinds against her. His forearm is pressed against her throat and it's becoming harder for her to breathe, the edges of her vision turning black as white starbursts start going off behind her eyes and unconsciousness almost seems like a relief after everything that had happened already, everything she could imagine was to come but just as she was about to succumb to the sweet blackness of oblivion the blonde man is suddenly yanked from atop of her and Alexa takes a deep, gasping breathe of fresh air that burns her bruised throat and causes her to start coughing uncontrollably.

She can't see what happened to the blonde man but the fat one still had a tight hold on her arms. Alexa can see his face, the look of utter terror that crosses it as his mouth falls open and in a flash of movement too quick for her to make out anything but a shadow, then there's a horrible popping sound as the fat man's neck breaks and his head is turned completely around. His grasp on her arms tightens almost painfully before going slack as his body falls to the Earth with a heavy thump. She scrambles away from his so fast that she falls off the center stone landing on the ground hard, pain shooting through her hip.

The sound of choking, gurgling gasps draws her attention up from the ground and for the third time that night she is absolutely shocked by what she sees, it is so unbelievable that she almost thinks she must be hallucinating the whole thing. There's a woman standing there, she's extremely tall and even if Alexa had been standing she would have still towered over her. She has a powerfully built body, thicker around the middle and at the thigh. She's dressed like she's from another age in black leather armor from head to toe, her gauntlets, faulds, and greaves all dyed the brightest shade of crimson Alexa had ever seen. She has a mass of black curls and Alexa can see the tapering line of her nose and the upward sweep of her sharp cheekbones. She has a stunningly powerful presence about her, as if Alexa's place on the ground is the perfect position to supplicate her. The woman has one hand wrapped around the blonde man's throat and is holding him up off of the ground completely as if he weighed no more than a babe and is slowly starting to tighten her grip on his neck until it looks like the man's eyes are about to pop right out of their sockets.

"What were you going to do to her?" she says, and her voice is as commanding as the rest of her. The man shakes his head frantically and she squeezes his throat a little tighter.

"Don't lie to me, human! You were going to rape her weren't you? And then when you and your friend had finished with her you were going to slit her throat and leave her body here for the animals, like you've done with 14 other women, weren't you?" her voice vibrates with power and the stones start to shake around them, shivering off centuries worth of dirt and undergrowth. The man's face is starting to turn an unhealthy shade of blue and he nods desperately, accepting defeat.

"This is a sacred place, peasant, my temple and yet you still sought to defile it with your twisted games and I'll not abide by such behavior. I now hereby sentence you to death. May your soul burn for all of eternity." She tightens her grip until the blonde man's face turns purple, the pressure of the blood beneath his skin building up and puffing out his skin until his head actually explodes in a shower of blood and bone and brain and his body drops to the ground like so much trash and for the first time in the past few hours Alexa feels some of the tension bleed out of her shoulders and she almost feels safe again but then the woman turns to her and the front of her armor is plastered with the blonde man's blood and Alexa's eyes widen in fear as she comes towards her. She must sense Alexa's fright because she stops a few feet away and does her best to sound soothing when next she speaks.

"It's okay, maid. I'm not going to harm you. What's your name?"

"Alexa, if it please you mighty Goddess Sictune." She answers, once again lowering her eyes to the ground.

The woman laughs and it is a tinkling musical sound completely at odds with the vicious warrior she had seen not moments ago and a spot of warmth takes root in Alexa's chest in response to it. "There's no need to be so formal, Alexa. To you I am known as Sictune, but to others I am Nia, and still to others I am Umera but no matter the name it is my duty to protect the people here. I couldn't let them harm you, especially not here of all places. Now here, let me help you up."

Nia's hands are large and warm around her waist and Alexa can feel the power in them yet they hold her tenderly as she lifts Alexa up and places her gently on her feet. She wobbles a little on her feet and grips Sictune's forearms to gain her balance and immediately looks to the Goddesses face to make sure that she hasn't committed some kind of horrible crime by accidentally touching her but her face is open and soft, her large brown eyes shining with care as she stares back at Alexa.

"Which one?"

A few delicate lines form between Sictune's perfect eyebrows as she crinkles her brow in confusion. "Which one, what?"

Alexa actually smiles when she answers, "Which name did you like best?"

As realization dawns on her Sictune returns her smile. "Well, I was always partial to Nia myself but it makes no difference to me, my duty remains the same."

"If Nia is the name you like best then that is the name I shall use to address you. I don't think I've said a proper thank you for saving my life and so I give you my thanks now. Thank you so much for protecting me, Nia, Goddess of Justice."

"You're very welcome my darling but now I must ask something of you in return."

"Anything." Alexa says earnestly.

Nia pulls Alexa into her until their bodies are flush against each other and mere inches separate their faces as Nia breathes the words, "Tell them." against her lips and then fuses their mouths together. Nia's lips are warm and smooth as they glide along hers and the world around them starts to slowly dissolve like spun sugar in the rain and Alexa closes her eyes in bliss.

When she opens them again she's staring at the front door of her family's cottage and Nia is nowhere to be seen. She looks down at herself and her clothes are ruined just as they had been after the attack and when she touches the back of her head gingerly the tips of her fingers come away wet with blood proving to her without a doubt that the events of the past few hours had indeed happened. So when she walks through the door of the cottage and her mother and Baron rush over to her all fluttering hands and concern Alexa tells them. She tells them about the men and how they found her on the road and then pursued her through the forest and what they meant to do to her. She tells them about how she came across The Extinct Temple of Sictune the Goddess of Justice (who prefers to be called Nia) and how Nia saved her life and about how even after all these centuries, many of them in the absence of worship or respect from the people, Nia has stayed true to her vow and protected the people of Higrove and Lucila.

When the people of the sister cities find her tale too fanciful to be true she leads all twenty members of the City Watch to the ruins and shows them what remains of the men's bodies and the state of their heads is enough to convince them of her tale, and so convince the whole of Higrove and Lucila.

Within a fortnight the townspeople have cleared a path to the temple and the gardeners have cleared it of all the brush and overgrowth and replaced it with colorful blossoms and neatly shaped bushes. When Alexa attends the first monthly gathering at the newly restored Temple of Nia the Goddess of Justice about 200 people have gathered around the center stone and its corresponding two rows of triangular stones to lay their offerings at the alter in the hopes that Nia will continue to protect the people.

At dawn when the last man, woman, and child has laid their offering Alexa makes her way to the center stone and bends at the waist to lay a gentle kiss on the surface of the stone. When she's once again standing upright she looks over and there she is, Nia, looking if possible even more glorious than she had when Alexa had seen her for the first time, leaning casually against one of the stones. Alexa smiles at her, raising her hand in a wave and Nia beams a smile back at her in return as her shoulders shake in silent laughter and then she fades slowly away to nothing until once again Alexa is alone at the temple with nothing but the morning dew and the rising sun. She turns her face towards the sun, letting it warm her skin as a laugh bubbles out of her, followed by another and another until she's laughing hysterically and feeling freer than she's ever felt in her life.

 ** _The End_**

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 **A/N:** This was written as a belated birthday gift for my friend jackthesinister_jakethejust over on tumblr. If you enjoyed it, let me know it!


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